CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2018-18389 — Neo4J Neo4J security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

Due to incorrect access control in Neo4j Enterprise Database Server 3.4.x before 3.4.9, the setting of LDAP for authentication with STARTTLS, and System Account for authorization, allows an attacker to log into the server by sending any valid username with an arbitrary password.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.0)
Published
2018-10-16
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • neo4j / neo4j

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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